But now, with 1402 S. Grove St. in foreclosure and with Florida Power & Light Co. planning to turn off the power, the green neon sign on the corner of that property has an uncertain future.

Sherry Rydberg of Fort Myers has owned the home since 1996. Financial issues have made it impossible for her to continue to own the house, she said.

"It has been a long, drawn-out process," said Rydberg.

She said the sign has had electrical problems for some time and that she tried seeking donated electrical work and then offering to pay for repairs, both to no avail.

"The other challenge is that the power is controlled by a timer in the house," she said.

Rydberg said she was giving the house back to whatever bank now holds the mortgage - four lenders have held the mortgage in the past four years she said - and walking away.

"I paid to keep the sign lit for that entire time. I understand the importance of the sign, but I just can't afford to pay for it," she said.

"That's been my dilemma. It has been hard to walk away," Rydberg said. She added that she just could not keep up with everything that needed to be done with the house, let alone the sign.

She said she has called the power company and told them to close the account.

Bud Fraga, a spokesman for the power company, said the home's account is now listed as inactive.

"That means the customer has reassigned the account to a new location," Fraga said. He added that there is no customer on record for that address now and that service for the entire house will be disconnected, though he could not say when.

If a new owner or customer moves in, the disconnect order could be halted, Fraga said.

David Skrobarcek of Fort Myers, Rydberg's ex-husband, said that even though the house has its problems -- the grounds are weed-choked, a pool is green with algae -- it could probably be fixed up for about $40,000 to $50,000.

"There are leaks in the roof and parts of the ceiling have come down," he said.

Skrobarcek, who lived in the home off and on until about six months ago, said that during that time the sign had been shot at by paintball and real guns, and beer bottles were almost always found at the base.

"Somebody had put bulletproof glass on the sign, so the shots didn't hurt it," he said, adding that the sign was last lit up about nine months ago and thinks the ballast, which controls the electrical current, has gone bad.

Skrobarcek added that a member of First Assembly of God Church on Summerlin Road, nearly a mile away, has expressed interest in getting the sign back in shape.

That member, Doug Ford of Fort Myers, said he had hoped to stir interest in the sign among church members and the public.

"I had hoped to maybe generate some money to rebuild the sign," he said. Ford added that he was even willing to repair it and might even be interested in buying the home at some point.

This isn't the first time the sign has had to be resurrected.

In 2002, an anonymous group donated time and money to get the green neon glowing again after it was dark for more than a month.

According to a letter from the anonymous group, they said the sign was cleaned, rewired and repainted, and the neon and a plastic cover were replaced.

Doug St. Cerny, who was a Lee County (Fla.) commissioner at that time, said he remembers that a citizens group came together to repair the sign.

"It would be a shame if it went away forever," St. Cerny said Tuesday. "It is the charm of the neighborhood."

Sign of love

Built in 1925, the two-story home where the landmark green neon sign God Is Love is located was occupied by the caretakers of citrus groves that have long since been replaced with buildings. At one time, mail carriers used the house as a stopover on the way to Punta Rassa, Fla.

1943: George Gruesbeck, a Seventh-Day Adventist, first put up the sign.

1957: The sign took a brief hiatus to a garage after Clyde and Margaret Daughtry bought the house. After appeals from neighbors, the sign reappeared on the lawn.

1995: Owner Robert Ray of Canada re-lit the sign, which had been dark for about a year because of wiring problems. He accepted donations and established a trust to take care of what he said was the $30 monthly cost of keeping the sign lit.

By 1996: The sign was dim once again. Ray was unable to pay his lenders and deeded the house to them.

November 1996: Sherry Rydberg purchased the home and paid to light the sign.

Early 2012: Electrical problems made the sign go dark.

2013: Rydberg returned the house to the mortgage company. Sign is dark.